Book Description

Horses of all shapes and sizes make an appearance in this book. Some of these animals sail so high into the air as they leap over jumps that they seem to defy gravity. They are, to say the least, very powerful.

Other horses who play a role in this story go barreling towards the finish line at breakneck speeds. Their pulsating muscles and tendency to bite or kick any other competitor who gets near them makes them menacing.

The fact that these animals display an amazing athleticism is not up for debate. But one thing still remains unclear. Are they really flesh and blood creatures?

Or, might they simply be a product of the narrator's imagination? She is, after all, after all, overwhelmed by life and quite young. And both of these traits can prove a breeding ground for dramatizations of all types.

Every reader will decide to answer these questions in his/ her own way. Some might say that these horses exist in the same sense that you and I exist. Others, meanwhile, might figure that they exist in a realm other than the purely physical.

Readers have, however, a third alternative which might represent the best option of all. They can simply decide not to decide. Selecting this option might grant them the best opportunity to simply enjoy reading the book. Sometimes, you can ruin a good thing by scrutinizing it too closely.

And by the way, the girl who narrates this tail might be termed "disturbed." At the very least, she shows less than stellar judgment in her choice of companions and her willingness to take unprecedented risks.

However, while they cost her dearly on every conceivable level, her excesses were not really all that far from the norm. What adolescent girl has not fallen for some boy, only a few years older than year, who obviously does not have her best interests at heart?

And the fact that this girl felt awkward and was extremely sensitive about her weight is hardly unusual. Nor, is her incessant feeling of being an outsider in her community, her school and most of all her home.These things are endemic among adolescents, part and parcel of the growing pains through which teens travel.

Horses of all shapes and sizes make an appearance in this book. Some of these animals sail so high into the air as they leap over jumps that they seem to defy gravity. They are, to say the least, very powerful.

Other horses who play a role in this story go barreling towards the finish line at breakneck speeds. Their pulsating muscles and tendency to bite or kick any other competitor who gets near them makes them menacing.

The fact that these animals display an amazing athleticism is not up for debate. But one thing still remains unclear. Are they really flesh and blood creatures?

Or, might they simply be a product of the narrator's imagination? She is, after all, after all, overwhelmed by life and quite young. And both of these traits can prove a breeding ground for dramatizations of all types.

Every reader will decide to answer these questions in his/ her own way. Some might say that these horses exist in the same sense that you and I exist. Others, meanwhile, might figure that they exist in a realm other than the purely physical.

Readers have, however, a third alternative which might represent the best option of all. They can simply decide not to decide. Selecting this option might grant them the best opportunity to simply enjoy reading the book. Sometimes, you can ruin a good thing by scrutinizing it too closely.

And by the way, the girl who narrates this tail might be termed "disturbed." At the very least, she shows less than stellar judgment in her choice of companions and her willingness to take unprecedented risks.

However, while they cost her dearly on every conceivable level, her excesses were not really all that far from the norm. What adolescent girl has not fallen for some boy, only a few years older than year, who obviously does not have her best interests at heart?

And the fact that this girl felt awkward and was extremely sensitive about her weight is hardly unusual. Nor, is her incessant feeling of being an outsider in her community, her school and most of all her home.These things are endemic among adolescents, part and parcel of the growing pains through which teens travel.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harriet Tramer has spent more years than she might care to remember working as both a journalist and a college instructor. And if nothing else, her experiences have taught her that these two professions definitely share one thing in common. They both demand good communication skills, not to mention patience and understanding. When she first began writing , she worked for a daily newspaper - "The Cleveland Press" - writing mostly community news. However, over time, she has graduated first to business publications, such as CBC Magazine and "Crain's Cleveland Business." More recently, she has taken her journalist ventures on line, having her own blog http://htramer.com And she has also been doing a radio show on bbsradio entitled "Reaching for the Gold." This program deals with aging, but that term is interpreted as broadly as possibly to create a wide interest. This book - Racing to Heaven - represents her first major foray into fiction writing. However, she has also written a text - Rounding the Circle of Love: Growing Up As She Grows Old - that focuses upon care giving for the elderly. As an instructor, she has gone from teaching classes with as many as 100 students to teaching strictly on line. And she has come to believe that the latter has some definite advantages in that it allows students to communicate their thoughts without feeling intimidated as might be the case in a more traditional classroom setting. The schools where she has taught include: Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College and the New School. She has Masters Degree in both Urban Studies and Communication.

This was a well written story that goes in and out of reality. It wasn’t until the “Big Red” horse began to speak to the main character that I starting delving into the psyche of the character. There is an escapism factor within this novel that I enjoyed as it took me from my own life and let me dream a bit within these pages. Anything is possible.

I had the privilege of interviewing Harriet Tramer on my radio show, Broadcast Muse, and in hearing her speak of what to expect within the pages of “Racing to Heaven” it intrigued me greatly to pick up a copy. I was blessed enough that Harriet gave me a free copy for an honest review.

You will enjoy the woven words of Harriet Tramer’s “Racing to Heaven” book and be enraptured within the chapters as she transports you in and out of reality. Well done!

Young adult horse stories are usually pretty straightforward and even hold quite predictable plots: girl loves horse (and/or boy), girl longs to ride/own horse, girl overcomes adversity, and in the end girl gets horse (and/or boy). Not so Racing to Heaven, which is a horse of another color and provides a heart-pounding race into and outside of reality to keep young adult and adult readers guessing.

Yes, it's a racetrack saga and yes, it revolves around a young female jockey. But take those elements and run with them; because that's what Harriet Tramer does as she presents the story of an unstable teen who demonstrates an innate talent for psychic communication with horses.

The story opens with a bang (but is it set in heaven, hell, or somewhere in between?): "The place where I am now goes by so many different names – nirvana, heaven, paradise - that I long ago gave up on trying to decide what name fits it best. And I also gave up trying to figure out something else: how long it has been since I fell off a horse just seconds after I won the biggest race of my life and ended up here. It might be five years, my best estimate. But then again it might be a much longer or a much shorter period of time. There is no way to know for certain, because in this realm nobody keeps track of those things the way they do on Earth. There are no clocks, calendars, computers or cell phones I can use to check the time and date."

So it's a new age novel about the supernatural, right? Not really…because the protagonist and her equine concerns are firmly rooted in the vivid reality of horse racing circles. Then, it's a horse story, right? In a manner of speaking - because the progression is anything but your usual horse saga.

Think 'magic'. Think 'spiritual connections'. Take a classic good-versus-evil story and then turn it on end with a splash of intrigue and action. Stir the cauldron of complexity, then season liberally with discussions of how the protagonist comes to realize that being a jockey is in her future (hint: via supernatural means).

There's social commentary ("Nobody seemed the least bit bent out of shape when members of that association forced a woman to dig up literally hundreds of begonias she had planted next to her house because they were the wrong color. It seems that the flowers in question were an off shade of white and only pink flowers were allowed."), there are moments of revelation accompanied by moments of down-to-earth reality ("I could not help figuring that despite the hard travelling he had endured Roberto was luckier than me in a way. He did not owe anybody anything because he was getting precious little from them. That man was free, while I certainly was not because my parents remained convinced that I owed them a great deal. They expected me to be a dutiful daughter fixated on her school work in return for their having given me the “luxurious” life I was leading; I was figuratively if not literally shackled by their expectations."), and most of all, there's a teen's growth and coming of age, whether it takes place on Earth or somewhere else.

So don't pick up Racing to Heaven expecting your usual teen horse saga: readers who do so might be disappointed if they're expecting a horse-centric, predictable formula plot. DO choose Racing to Heaven for its unique brand of coming of age story paired with horse-oriented action and social and spiritual reflection. When other horse books are simply pounding around the same track, this one's heading full speed to the winner's circle, spirits flying high.Read more ›

Racing to Heaven by Harriet Tramer is a different type of racetrack story. It's told from the point of view of a young female jockey who died while following her passion - galloping horses.

An unstable teen is sent to her aunt's ranch where she meets a chestnut stallion who communicates with her and teaches her how to ride - or is this a dream? Anyway, with Big Red as her constant companion, the girl "improves" her attitude and eventually she finds her way to the local track where she works with a young trainer and rides thoroughbreds in races. He puts her a "crazy" horses, which becomes her downfall.

Brenda (the reader doesn't learn her name until page 26) goes through a major physical and emotional transformation all because of Big Red.

This novel is part reality, part fantasy but the main character is likable and the writing style is as if you are reading her diary.

Here comes a book that you cannot put a type to. The author says and I quote "The book is what might be called magical realism". It revolves around a teenager named Brenda who seems almost totally out of control emotionally. Enter her own imagination or maybe it's magic quotient and you have a rather weird/odd story about flights of mental fantasy or as it is told from Brenda's point of view, real happenings. This young girl paints herself as fat, un-athletic and a stumble bum but she, like the butterfly, eventually changes from an 180 pound girl to a 110 pound young lady with great athletic prowess. How you might say?? Yep. That is the question. Her dramatic change seems to have to do with an unusual horse she calls Big Red. She meets him at her Aunt's ranch. What happens next is a desire that a lot of young girls hold. This huge, highly excitable horse and she become buddies. She rides him.. he "talks" to her. They go all over the ranch together.. real? Or imagined. But it is the stuff little girls dream of to be sure. She then moves on to riding at a local barn. This certainly seems possible but it doesn't stay in the typical form of reality I know. Midnight bike rides. Wild jumping sprees in the barn arena with nobody the wiser..dream? or magic. As time progresses, Brenda lets go of a lot of the teenage anguish and tantrums of her younger self. Her parents are mentally "divorced" from her and she seems allowed to do as she pleases. She still has "conversations" with "Big Red" but only in her head. She ends up heading for a near-by race track where she makes the acquaintance of a young x-jocky who seems to be doing odd jobs and helping out new jockey's. Roberto befriends Brenda. Eventually teaches her how to ride a race horse. Finds horses for her to exercise. Then for her to ride in the races. OK.. dreamworld here. Again. None of this is possible at normal racetrack. You have to be over 16, you have to have a license. Owner's don't let 16 year old girls ride their racehorses… but in Brenda's world they do. I am not at all sure what Harriet Tramer is trying to show us. Adolescent turmoil? What goes on behind those little girl eyes? The hormones of youth can cause some very unusual responses? Or that there can be unusual flights off fantasy behind adolescent actions. But whatever it is, I want to end up in the Heaven that Brenda goes to.Read more ›